Logic and Computer Design Fundamentals

Combinational Logic Circuits

Part1- Gate Circuits and Boolean Equations

Dr. Joydeep Chandra

Indian Institute of Technology Patna

Adapted from William Stallings, Pearson book

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Overview
• Part 1 – Gate Circuits and Boolean Equations
• Binary Logic and Gates
• Boolean Algebra
• Standard Forms

• Part 2 – Circuit Optimization

• Two-Level Optimization
• Map Manipulation
• Multi-Level Circuit Optimization

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Binary Logic and Gates

• Binary variables take on one of two values.
• Logical operators operate on binary values
and binary variables.
• Basic logical operators are the logic
functions AND, OR and NOT.
• Logic gates implement logic functions.
• Boolean Algebra: a useful mathematical
system for specifying and transforming logic
functions.
• We study Boolean algebra as foundation for
designing and analyzing digital systems!

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Binary Variables
• Recall that the two binary values have
different names:
• True/False
• On/Off
• Yes/No
• 1/0
• We use 1 and 0 to denote the two values.
• Variable identifier examples:
• A, B, y, z, or X1 for now
• RESET, START_IT, or ADD1 later

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Logical Operations
• The three basic logical operations are:
• AND
• OR
• NOT
• AND is denoted by a dot (·).
• OR is denoted by a plus (+).
• NOT is denoted by an overbar ( ¯ ), a single
quote mark (') after, or (~) before the
variable.

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Notation Examples
• Examples:
• Y  A B is read “Y is equal to A AND B.”
• z  x  y is read “z is equal to x OR y.”
•
X  A is read “X is equal to NOT A.”

 Note: The statement:

1 + 1 = 2 (read “one plus one equals two”)
is not the same as
1 + 1 = 1 (read “1 or 1 equals 1”).

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 Operator Definitions
 Operations are defined on the values "0" and
"1" for each operator:

AND OR NOT
0·0=0 0+0=0 0 1
0·1=0 0+1=1 1 0
1·0=0 1+0=1
1·1=1 1+1=1

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Truth Tables
• Truth table  a tabular listing of the values of a
function for all possible combinations of values
on its arguments
• Example: Truth tables for the basic logic
operations:
AND OR NOT
X Y Z = X·Y X Y Z = X+Y X ZX
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0
1 0 0 1 0 1
1 1 1 1 1 1
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Logic Function Implementation

• Using Switches Switches in parallel => OR
• For inputs:
• logic 1 is switch closed
• logic 0 is switch open
• For outputs:
• logic 1 is light on
• logic 0 is light off. Switches in series => AND
• NOT uses a switch such
that:
• logic 1 is switch open
• logic 0 is switch closed Normally-closed switch => NOT
C

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Logic Function Implementation (Continued)

• Example: Logic Using Switches
B C
A

• Light is on (L = 1) for
L(A, B, C, D) =
and off (L = 0), otherwise.
• Useful model for relay circuits and for
CMOS gate circuits, the foundation of
current digital logic technology

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Logic Gates
1

• In the earliest computers, switches were

opened and closed by magnetic fields
produced by energizing coils in relays. The
switches in turn opened and closed the
current paths.
• Later, vacuum tubes that open and close
current paths electronically replaced relays.
• Today, transistors are used as electronic
switches that open and close current paths.

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Logic Gate Symbols and Behavior

• Logic gates have special symbols:
X X
= X ·Y
Z5 Z= +Y
5 X1 X Z=
5 X
Y Y
AND gate OR gate

(a) Graphic symbols

• And waveform behavior in time as follows:
X 0 0 1 1

Y 0 1 0 1

(AND) X · Y 0 0 0 1

(OR) X1 Y 0 1 1 1

(NOT) X 1 1 0 0
(b) Timing diagram

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Logic Diagrams and Expressions

Truth Table
XYZ F  X  Y Z Equation
000 0
001 1 F X  Y Z
010 0
011 0 Logic Diagram
X
100 1
101 1
Y F
110 1
111 1 Z

• Boolean equations, truth tables and logic diagrams describe

the same function!
• Truth tables are unique; expressions and logic diagrams are
not. This gives flexibility in implementing functions.

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 Boolean Algebra
 An algebraic structure defined on a set of at least two elements,
B, together with three binary operators (denoted +, · and, )
that satisfies the following basic identities:

1. X+0= X 2. X .1=X 1-4 Existence of 0 , 1

3. X+1=1 4. X .0 =0 5-6 Idempotence
5. X+X=X 6. X .X = X 7-8 Existence of
complement
7. X+X =1 8. X .X = 0
9 Involution
9. X=X
10. X+Y =Y+X 11. XY = YX Commutative
12. (X + Y) + Z = X + (Y + Z) 13. (XY) Z = X(Y Z) Associative
14. X(Y + Z) = XY + XZ 15. X + YZ = (X + Y) (X + Z) Distributive
16. X + Y =X .Y 17. X .Y = X + Y DeMorgan’s

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 Some Properties of Identities & the
Algebra
 If the meaning is unambiguous, we leave out the
symbol “·”
 The identities above are organized into pairs. These pairs
have names as follows:
1-4 Existence of 0 and 1 5-6 Idempotence
7-8 Existence of complement 9 Involution
10-11 Commutative Laws 12-13 Associative Laws
14-15 Distributive Laws 16-17 DeMorgan’s Laws
 The dual of an algebraic expression is obtained by
interchanging + and · and interchanging 0’s and 1’s.
 The identities appear in dual pairs. When there is only
one identity on a line the identity is self-dual, i. e., the
dual expression = the original expression.
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Some Properties of Identities & the Algebra

(Continued)
• Unless it happens to be self-dual, the dual of
an expression does not equal the expression
itself.
• Example: F = (A + C) · B + 0
dual F = (A · C + B) · 1 = A · C + B
• Example: G = X · Y + (W + Z)
dual G =
• Example: H = A · B + A · C + B · C
dual H =
• Are any of these functions self-dual?

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Boolean Operator Precedence

9

 The order of evaluation in a Boolean

expression is:
1. Parentheses
2. NOT
3. AND
4. OR
 Consequence: Parentheses appear
around OR expressions
 Example: F = A(B + C)(C + D)

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Useful Theorems
0

• x y + x  y = y (x+y) (x+y) = y Minimization

• x+x.y=x x . (x+y) = x Absorption
• x + x  y = x + y x (x+y) = x y Simplification
• x y + x  z + y z = x  y + x z
• Consensus
(x+y)  (x+z)  (y+z) = (x+y)  (x+z)

• x + y = x y x y = x + y DeMorgan’s Law

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Example 1: Boolean Algebraic Proof

• A + A·B = A (Absorption Theorem)

Proof Steps Justification (identity or
theorem)
A + A·B
=A·1+A·B X=X·1
= A · ( 1 + B) X · Y + X · Z = X ·(Y + Z)(Distributive Law)
=A·1 1+X=1
=A X·1=X

• Our primary reason for doing proofs is to learn:

• Careful and efficient use of the identities and theorems of
Boolean algebra, and
• How to choose the appropriate identity or theorem to
apply to make forward progress, irrespective of the
application.
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Proof of Simplification
2

xy+xy=y


(x + y ) ( x + y ) = y

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Boolean Function Evaluation

F1 xy z x y z F1 F2 F3 F4
F2  x yz 0 0 0 0 0
F3 xyz  x y z  xy 0 0 1 0 1
F4  xy  x z 0 1 0 0 0
0 1 1 0 0
1 0 0 0 1
1 0 1 0 1
1 1 0 1 1
1 1 1 0 1

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Complementing Functions
• Use DeMorgan's Theorem to complement
a function:
1. Interchange AND and OR operators
2. Complement each constant value and
literal
• Example: Complement
• F = xy z  xyz
• F = (x + y + z)(x + y + z)
• Example: Complement G = (a + bc)d + e
G=
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Overview – Canonical Forms

5

• What are Canonical Forms?

• Minterms and Maxterms
• Index Representation of Minterms and Maxterms
• Sum-of-Minterm (SOM) Representations
• Product-of-Maxterm (POM) Representations
• Representation of Complements of Functions
• Conversions between Representations

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Canonical Forms

• It is useful to specify Boolean functions in a

form that:
• Allows comparison for equality.
• Has a correspondence to the truth tables
• Canonical Forms in common usage:
• Sum of Minterms (SOM)
• Product of Maxterms (POM)

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Minterms
• Minterms are AND terms with every variable
present in either true or complemented form.
• Given that each binary variable may appear
normal (e.g., x) or complemented (e.g., x ),
there are 2n minterms for n variables.
• Example: Two variables (X and Y)produce
2 x 2 = 4 combinations:
XY (both normal)
X Y (X normal, Y complemented)
X Y (X complemented, Y normal)
X Y (both complemented)
• Thus there are four minterms of two variables.
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Maxterms
• Maxterms are OR terms with every variable in
true or complemented form.
• Given that each binary variable may appear
normal (e.g., x) or complemented (e.g., x),
there are 2n maxterms for n variables.
• Example: Two variables (X and Y) produce
2 x 2 = 4 combinations:
X Y (both normal)
X Y (x normal, y complemented)
(x complemented, y normal)
X Y (both complemented)
X Y
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Maxterms and Minterms

• Examples: Two variable minterms and maxterms.

Index Minterm Maxterm

0 xy x+y
1 xy x+y
2 xy x+y
3 xy x+y

• The index above is important for describing

which variables in the terms are true and which
are complemented.
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Standard Order
• Minterms and maxterms are designated with a subscript
• The subscript is a number, corresponding to a binary
pattern
• The bits in the pattern represent the complemented or
normal state of each variable listed in a standard order.
• All variables will be present in a minterm or maxterm
and will be listed in the same order (usually
alphabetically)
• Example: For variables a, b, c:
• Maxterms: (a + b + c), (a + b + c)
• Terms: (b + a + c), a c b, and (c + b + a) are NOT in
standard order.
• Minterms: a b c, a b c, a b c
• Terms: (a + c), b c, and (a + b) do not contain all
variables
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Purpose of the Index

• The index for the minterm or maxterm,

expressed as a binary number, is used to
determine whether the variable is shown in the
true form or complemented form.
• For Minterms:
• “1” means the variable is “Not Complemented” and
• “0” means the variable is “Complemented”.
• For Maxterms:
• “0” means the variable is “Not Complemented” and
• “1” means the variable is “Complemented”.

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Index Example in Three Variables

• Example: (for three variables)

• Assume the variables are called X, Y, and Z.
• The standard order is X, then Y, then Z.
• The Index 0 (base 10) = 000 (base 2) for three
variables). All three variables are
complemented for minterm 0 ( X , Y, Z ) and no
variables are complemented for Maxterm 0
(X,Y,Z).
• Minterm 0, called m0 is X Y Z.
• Maxterm 0, called M0 is (X + Y + Z).
• Minterm 6 ?
• Maxterm 6 ?
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Index Examples – Four Variables

Index Binary Minterm Maxterm
i Pattern mi Mi
0 0000 a bc d a  b  c  d
1 0001 a bc d ?
3 0011 ? a bcd
a b c d a  bcd
5 0101
? a bcd
7 0111
a b c d a  bcd
10 1010
a b c d ?
13 1101
15 1111 abcd a bc d
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Minterm and Maxterm Relationship

• Review: DeMorgan's Theorem

x · y x  yand x  y x  y
• Two-variable example:
M2 x  y and m2 x·y
Thus M2 is the complement of m2 and vice-versa.
• Since DeMorgan's Theorem holds for n variables,
the above holds for terms of n variables
• giving:
Mi mi and mi  Mi
Thus Mi is the complement of mi.

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Function Tables for Both

5

• Minterms of Maxterms of
2 variables 2 variables
xy m0 m1 m2 m3 x y M0 M1 M2 M3
00 1 0 0 0 00 0 1 1 1
01 0 1 0 0 01 1 0 1 1
10 0 0 1 0 10 1 1 0 1
11 0 0 0 1 11 1 1 1 0

• Each column in the maxterm function table is

the complement of the column in the minterm
function table since Mi is the complement of mi.
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Observations
• In the function tables:
• Each minterm has one and only one 1 present in the 2n terms (a minimum of 1s).
All other entries are 0.
• Each maxterm has one and only one 0 present in the 2n terms All other entries are
1 (a maximum of 1s).

• We can implement any function by "ORing" the minterms corresponding

to "1" entries in the function table. These are called the minterms of the
function.
• We can implement any function by "ANDing" the maxterms
corresponding to "0" entries in the function table. These are called the
maxterms of the function.
• This gives us two canonical forms:
• Sum of Minterms (SOM)
• Product of Maxterms (POM)

for stating any Boolean function.

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Minterm Function Example

• Example: Find F1 = m1 + m4 + m7
• F1 = x y z + x y z + x y z
x y z index m1 + m4 + m7 = F1
000 0 0 + 0 + 0 =0
001 1 1 + 0 + 0 =1
010 2 0 + 0 + 0 =0
011 3 0 + 0 + 0 =0
100 4 0 + 1 + 0 =1
101 5 0 + 0 + 0 =0
110 6 0 + 0 + 0 =0
111 7 0 + 0 + 1 =1
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Minterm Function Example

• F(A, B, C, D, E) = m2 + m9 + m17 + m23

• F(A, B, C, D, E) =

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Maxterm Function Example

• Example: Implement F1 in maxterms:
F1 = M0 · M2 · M 3 · M 5 · M 6
F1  (x  y  z) ·(x  y  z)·(x  y  z )
·( x  y  z )·( x  y  z)
xyz i M0 M2 M3 M5 M6 = F1
000 0 0 1  11  1 =0
001 1 1 1  11  1 =1
010 2 1 0  11  1 =0
011 3 1 1  01  1 =0
100 4 1 1  11  1 =1
101 5 1 1  10  1 =0
110 6 1 1  11  0 =0
111 7 1 1  11  1 =1
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Maxterm Function Example

• F( A, B, C, D ) M 3  M8  M11  M14

• F(A, B,C,D) =

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Canonical Sum of Minterms

• Any Boolean function can be expressed as a
Sum of Minterms.
• For the function table, the minterms used are the
terms corresponding to the 1's
• For expressions, expand all terms first to
explicitly list all minterms. Do this by “ANDing”
any term missing a variable v with a term ( v  v ).
• Example: Implement f  x  x y as a sum
of minterms.
First expand terms: f  x( y  y )  x y
Then distribute terms: f  xy  xy  x y
Express as sum of minterms: f = m3 + m2 + m0

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Another SOM Example

• Example:

F A BC
• There are three variables, A, B, and C which we take to
be the standard order.
• Expanding the terms with missing variables:

• Collect terms (removing all but one of duplicate terms):

• Express as SOM:

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Shorthand SOM Form

• From the previous example, we started with:

F A  B C
• We ended up with:
F = m1+m4+m5+m6+m7
• This can be denoted in the formal shorthand:
F( A , B, C) m(1,4,5,6,7 )
• Note that we explicitly show the standard
variables in order and drop the “m”
designators.

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Canonical Product of Maxterms

• Any Boolean Function can be expressed as a Product
of Maxterms (POM).
• For the function table, the maxterms used are the terms
corresponding to the 0's.
• For an expression, expand all terms first to explicitly list all
maxterms. Do this by first applying the second distributive
law , “ORing” terms missing variable v with a term equal to
and then applying the distributive law again.
v v
• Example: Convert to product of maxterms:
f (x, y, z) x  x y
Apply the distributive law:
x  x y (x  x)(x  y ) 1 (x  y ) x  y
Add missing variable z:
x  y  z z(x  y  z) x  y  z 
Express as POM: f = M2 · M3
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Another POM Example

• Convert to Product of Maxterms:
f(A, B, C) A C  B C  A B
• Use x + y z = (x+y)·(x+z) with x (A C  B C), y A ,
and z B to get:
f (A C  B C  A )(A C  B C  B)
• Then use x  x y x  y to get:
f  ( C  BC  A )(A C  C  B)
and a second time to get:
f ( C  B  A )(A  C  B)
• Rearrange to standard order,
f ( A  B  C)(A  B  C) to give f = M · M
5 2
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Function Complements
• The complement of a function expressed as
a sum of minterms is constructed by
selecting the minterms missing in the sum-
of-minterms canonical forms.
• Alternatively, the complement of a function
expressed by a Sum of Minterms form is
simply the Product of Maxterms with the
same indices.
• Example: Given F ( x , y , z )  m (1, 3, 5, 7 )
F(x, y, z)  m(0,2,4,6)
F(x, y, z)  M(1,3,5,7)
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Conversion Between Forms

7

• To convert between sum-of-minterms and

product-of-maxterms form (or vice-versa) we
follow these steps:
• Find the function complement by swapping terms in
the list with terms not in the list.
• Change from products to sums, or vice versa.
• Example:Given F as before: F( x , y , z ) m(1, 3,5,7 )
• Form the Complement: F(x, y, z)  m(0,2,4,6)
• Then use the other form with the same indices –
this
forms the complement again, giving the other
form of the original function:F( x , y , z ) M ( 0, 2,4,6 )

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Standard Forms

• Standard Sum-of-Products (SOP) form: equations are written

as an OR of AND terms
• Standard Product-of-Sums (POS) form: equations are written
as an AND of OR terms
• Examples:
• SOP:
• POS: A B C A B C  B
(A  B)· (AB  C )· C
These “mixed” forms are neither SOP nor POS
•
• (A B  C) (A  C)
A B C A C (A B)
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Standard Sum-of-Products (SOP)

• A sum of minterms form for n variables can be

written down directly from a truth table.
• Implementation of this form is a two-level network
of gates such that:
• The first level consists of n-input AND gates, and
• The second level is a single OR gate (with fewer
than 2n inputs).
• This form often can be simplified so that the
corresponding circuit is simpler.

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Standard Sum-of-Products (SOP)

• A Simplification Example:
• F( A , B, C) m(1,4,5,6,7 )
• Writing the minterm expression:
F = A B C + A B C + A B C + ABC + ABC
• Simplifying:
F=

• Simplified F contains 3 literals compared to 15

in minterm F
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AND/OR Two-level Implementation of

1

SOP Expression

• The two implementations for F are shown

below – it is quite apparent which is simpler!
A
F
B
C

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SOP and POS Observations

• The previous examples show that:

• Canonical Forms (Sum-of-minterms, Product-of-
Maxterms), or other standard forms (SOP, POS) differ in
complexity
• Boolean algebra can be used to manipulate equations
into simpler forms.
• Simpler equations lead to simpler two-level
implementations
• Questions:
• How can we attain a “simplest” expression?
• Is there only one minimum cost circuit?
• The next part will deal with these issues.

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